My chickens are dropping off

[joanie_maine]

Quote:
My indoor pens are on concrete and I use shavings on the floors. After I clean out each pen, I sprinkle diatomaceous earth around before I spread the shavings. It helps the shavings stay dry. From what I read, Dry Stall is diatomaceous earth and clay in granules.

Diatomaceous earth also discourages bugs.

 

[countrybum]

Can I ak why you cannot put them in the coop? If it is just heat, does you coop not have ventilation? Can you run a fan to the coop to circulate air? There is really a lot you can do to save them. The longer you keep them in the area you are, they are going to keep dying. As above stated, I also have a gravel floor with concrete on top. Do not use the lime it is dangerous when left on the ground to chickens.

 

[Mrs. Glassman]

I had this same thing happen to me this spring. We had abnormally wet weather this year. It turned my coop into a yucky mess.

I had to stand out in a down-pour digging trenches to drain off the water.

 

[chickletranch]

I would suggest either building up the floor with sand, which drains more easily, or putting a thick layer of wood shavings on the ground to soak up the mess and create a mostly dry top surface. You can put shavings down immediately and leave them there til things dry out (they won't get moldy like straw). We sometimes put shavings down in our bantam pen when it rains so it's not so muddy. Good luck, Lynn

 

[LA~Poulet]

For a temporary fix, could you put some sort of platform, like a shipping pallet, down for them to have a raised, dry place to be?

 

[Judy]

Here are two links that should help you:

https://www.backyardchickens.com/web/viewblog.php?id=1642-VENTILATION

https://www.backyardchickens.com/web/viewblog.php?id=1642-fix-a-muddy-run